ask her about herself, and interests that she has. watch tv together, color together, maybe even take a walk together. just relax and be yourself. ask open ended question so that the child can build their vocab by talking to you. listen to music and dance w/ her. act silly. read stories together. a lot of other posters have said some great things. I would suggest NOT to use a baby voice though. Speak normally, but use simpler words and shorter sentences.

if you are uncomfortable w/ her sitting in your lap, then you tell her that in no uncertain terms. "Please don't sit on my lap. I don't like it. You can sit beside me, though." She should be willing to accept that.

Depending on her age I would just let her help me do stuff like fold clothes, wash dishes. Watch cat videos together on Youtube or Dora videos. Ask her for her favorite tv shows and go to their homepage. Most often they have videos and games for kids on them you can do together. You can also just get a cheap coloring book and colored pencils and just color with her. Talk about the page you are coloring, ask simple questions like.. do you like cats? Oh, you do? What kind? I like big fluffy black cats with orange nose. I once had a cat as a kid and it would blah blah blah...

Annoying child? Talk to the parents. http://www.education.com/ <---tons of print outs and ideas

Depending on her age I would just let her help me do stuff like fold clothes, wash dishes. Watch cat videos together on Youtube or Dora videos. Ask her for her favorite tv shows and go to their homepage. Most often they have videos and games for kids on them you can do together. You can also just get a cheap coloring book and colored pencils and just color with her. Talk about the page you are coloring, ask simple questions like.. do you like cats? Oh, you do? What kind? I like big fluffy black cats with orange nose. I once had a cat as a kid and it would blah blah blah...

Annoying child? Talk to the parents. http://www.education.com/ <---tons of print outs and ideas

Cute! Ms Wonderland gave some very good answers. As for the sitting on the lap, it all depends if you and her family are all comfortable with it. I am not sure how old you are, but little girls are often fascinated by girls in their teens and early 20s. My daughter cannot get enough of my niece or her baby sitters(all between the ages of 17-21).

As her about the most fun part of her day? Who did she play with? What games did she play? What she likes to eat etc. As Ms Wonderful said, they love to talk about themselves. They like it when you sound impressed with their answers.

Since you are living there, you might want to set boundaries early on-where the child understands that there are some times that you might not want to play-because you are tired or have "homework".

For some reason, this made me think of my baby cousin, who was like a freakin parasite, always clinging onto your body. Like, I'd be sleepin wit my hoodie on, but when I'd wake up, use the bathroom, and look in the mirror, there'd be two heads stickin out of my hoodie. I thought it was so cute though.

Im a big kid at heart, so I would say it is relatively easy for me to speak to children. Just establish common ground. Ask her about Big Bird, or Spongebob. Ask her about her siblings or show her something cool. That will make her feel more comfortable being with you.

But if you still feel awkward talking to her, you can always gas her up if she tries to sit on your lap. That'll teach her a lesson.

For some reason, this made me think of my baby cousin, who was like a freakin parasite, always clinging onto your body. Like, I'd be sleepin wit my hoodie on, but when I'd wake up, use the bathroom, and look in the mirror, there'd be two heads stickin out of my hoodie. I thought it was so cute though.

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